Padrón Unveils 90th Birthday Cigar

After many tweaks, changes and designs, the final version of the Padrón Serie 1926 No. 90 made its debut to retailers this week in Las Vegas at the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers trade show. The big surprise? It's round.

Padrón is known for pressing its cigars, giving them a squared-off shape. The company, which has been making cigars since 1964, is credited with sparking the box-pressed cigar trend in the United States. But this cigar has a look unusual to Padrón.

The reason for the round look? The cigars come packed in tubes; cream-colored ones for the natural version, red tubes for the maduro. They come 10 to the box, measure 5 1/2 inches long by 52 ring, and have a suggested retail prices of $19.50 per cigar.

A test-smoke on the trade show floor showed the cigars to be medium to full in body, quite rich and intense in flavor.

The cigar was released about one month after the 90th birthday of José Orlando Padrón, the founder of Padrón Cigars and the chairman of the company. Ten years ago, the family released a cigar honoring his 80th birthday, which went on to win No. 2 cigar of 2008 in Cigar Aficionado with a score of 96 points.